Should Have Known (Camren)

Chapter 54

"Okay, so what?" Camila sighed. "It's not like he's going to try anything. I told him I don't like him."

"Camz, it's Austin we're talking about here," I reminded her. "He'll play any girl that he can get his hands on."

"He's not going to get his hands on me."

"He's going to try," Dinah argued.

"And he's going to fail," Camila concluded. "I'm not excited about being with him practically twenty-four-seven, but there's not much that he can get away with if we don't let him, right?"

"I can't promise that I won't lose my cool if he tries to make a move on you," I warned.

She took both of my hands in hers and smiled supportively, showing that she was grateful for my protectiveness even though I knew I could be annoying at times. It came naturally. Camila was mine and if anyone else tried to touch her, I knew I would become angry. I wasn't possessive, just proud to call her my girlfriend.

"You'll be fine," she assured me. "You don't have to worry about anything. I love you, not Austin. As far as I'm concerned, he's not even on the tour, okay? It's you and me and it always will be. No one else is going to come between us."

"I know, I just can't get the memory of that night out of my mind," I told her. "It was so hard watching you two together and then hearing that he didn't even care about you in the end. Now here we are...and I can't imagine what he'll do or say now that he actually has feelings for you."

"For the record, he has feelings for like twenty different girls," Dinah chimed in.

"See?" Camila chuckled. "He's not serious. There's nothing to worry about."

I nodded in an attempt to halt the conversation. I wanted to believe her, but I knew Austin well enough despite only having a few short encounters to know that his intentions probably hadn't cleared up since the last time we met. I had a feeling he would do everything in his power win Camila over, and I knew I had to stop him before I lost her again.

...

I shut the door to my bedroom to call it an early night, exhausted from the long flight back to Miami. We'd received time off as we always did before a tour, and I couldn't have been any happier to be home. I'd spent the majority of the day with my family at the beach, hopping around to different shops and catching a bite to eat on the pier. It felt nice to be home and have the warm Miami sun on my back, and I was dreading the following day when I'd have to pack up and return to Los Angeles. Every time I went home, I aways found myself wishing I could stay. I loved living in LA, but the prospect of another tour was already stressing me out, and it didn't help that Austin would be there for the entire ride. I tried so hard to push the idea out of my mind all day, attempting to convince myself that I was just being over-protective, but even I knew that wasn't the case. I had one intention only, and that was to make sure Camila knew how much she meant to before Austin had the chance to take my place. I knew she wouldn't just drop me in the blink of an eye, but I had a feeling his smooth charm and picture perfect smile could swipe her away easily, even if it was against her will.

I barely had time to make contact with my mattress before a quiet knock on my window echoed through my room. My attention snapped to the sound and I found Camila on the other side, waving happily from the balcony and sporting her goofiest grin. I rolled my eyes light-heartedly and relieved myself of my position to unlock the window, pulling it open and allowing her inside. She stumbled through and met me with a warm embrace, pecking my lips quickly before taking both of my hands.

"Hi," she smiled.

"You couldn't bear to be away from me for two days?" I chuckled.

"Of course not. It's very rare that we have an opportunity to be alone without the girls. I love them but damn, I need space too...just with you."